To The Editor:

Although I write this letter on October 30, the scariest night on the horizon for most of us adults is not actually tomorrow but rather Tuesday when our election cycle will finally (hopefully) culminate. It is frightful too for people abroad seeing the fate of the world increasingly balancing in the hands of an angry, agitated, and too often unhinged electorate.

I would like to propose to you, whether you be Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, that regardless of the way the election turns out, we will not be on the brink of calamity unless you try to make it so. Your respective organizations and parties have been trying to convince you that our nation is at a potentially fatal precipice but history tells us that the real danger comes when large segments of a population adopt that mentality.

The many ways that Donald Trump’s beliefs and actions are representative of fascism cannot be historically refuted but why is there such an ignorance about the societal forces that paved his way to power? Fascism was a reactionary movement. It was in opposition to the growing strength and successes of a parallel radical movement that was likewise undemocratic. While the Great Depression helped Hitler into power his reign could not have happened except at the end of such a long and increasingly violent struggle between the unyielding forces of far left and far right.

Polarization is the enemy. If you really want to save our democracy you will not do it by joining one pole or the other, you will only do it by learning to truly respect and listen to your fellow Americans all across the political spectrum. Common ground is something that neither one of the major political parties at this point want you to see. In fact, you will not see it if you are always seeing red. So, everyone, please, just cool your jets and open your eyes and ears.

Randi Kiely

Newtown

Editor’s Note: This letter was originally submitted for the issue of November 1 but could not be printed due to The Newtown Bee’s policy prohibiting letters critical of political candidates in the week before the election. The writer asked if the letter could be printed in the issue of November 8.